October 20 -- Planned on a no spend day, but plans changed in the evening when BIL asked us to go out for a movie and dinner

October 21 --

October 22 --

October 23 --

October 24 -- Mailed a care package to my girls. Bought some fruits at Costco which were covered by a return.

October 25 -- Ate out - we really, really shouldn't have...

October 26 -- Got a groupon for 2 car washes and had our cars cleaned inside and out. They desperately needed it. My DH's car has never been cleaned and mine hasn't been in about 7 months - it looked more brown than the burgundy it should've been.

October 27 - After being stuck in traffic for more than an hour for a trip that was supposed to take 20 minutes and looking even worse for the return trip, we have decided to wait a few hours before attempting the drive back. Which meant eating out yet again this weekend.

Oh boy, you guys have been doing so well! I always seem to go off the rails at the end of the month--why is that? I don't even have my rundown. Let's just say that I don't think I have any no-spend days *sigh* Right now, I'm going to just look forward to November's thread instead.

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I tallied up our groceries for the month -- $944.28. I know this seems ridiculous, but it is a huge improvement over our $1400 bills this summer. I budgeted $1000, so the extra $55.72 covers most of last night's meal.

Under $1000 is a victory in this house, and we only have 4 people in this house--and my girls together really only have the appetite of 1 kid!

Under $1000 is a victory in this house, and we only have 4 people in this house--and my girls together really only have the appetite of 1 kid!

That is good to hear. I feel like I am doing a bang up job of it. We could tighten up a notch more, but life would start to get really dull. To get any more efficient, I'll have to start hunting and gathering and that's not really going to happen. I do miss my old garden though. I could make a wicked meal from all of our lovely herbs and greens. Miss those tasty veggies.

That is good to hear. I feel like I am doing a bang up job of it. We could tighten up a notch more, but life would start to get really dull. To get any more efficient, I'll have to start hunting and gathering and that's not really going to happen. I do miss my old garden though. I could make a wicked meal from all of our lovely herbs and greens. Miss those tasty veggies.

Under $1000 is very hard for us too, but I attribute that to the fact that I can't eat most grains, and both DH and I feel much better when we're eating low carb. That rules out a lot of the inexpensive (and delicious ) fillers for most meals. I was cooking up a fair number of potatoes while our garden was rocking, but once those were gone, we went back to protein/veggie meals, and that ups the cost so much. We spent $700 for food this month (not including personal care, pet food, etc.), and that's in spite of my family feeding us a for quite a few meals in the middle of the month. It also doesn't include our "eating out" budget *sigh*. This is one of the areas of greatest frustration for me--I MUST get the food expenditures down! It's really ridiculous.

I miss my greens too; the ones I planted (way too late) have gotten to just past seedling stage, and then it got too cold for them to thrive. They're surviving the cold nights, but they won't get big enough to make salads from them. Thankfully, I can buy a box of organic mixed greens for $6 at BJ's or Costco and that will last the family a week, even with DH and me eating salads nearly every day for lunch. We rely on that heavily throughout the year!

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1. Unbudgeted but necessary, DH stopped at WM for half and half, pasta, and canning jars. Canned 13 quarts of applesauce and used the peels and cores to start 5, 1/2 gallon jars of apple scrap vinegar.

2.

3.

4.

5. DD1 had a bake sale today, made oatmeal raisin cookies b/c I had all the ingredients on hand. Stopped at a local orchard that sells apple seconds by the bushel. Got 7 bushels of apples for $70, that's $10 a bushel or less than 25c/ lb!!! Also picked up pumpkins for the kids to paint for fall and for roasting and pureeing. Broke down 4 pumpkins and got 18 cups of puree for future baking.

7. No spend, canned another batch of applesauce. Strained the apple scraps from the apple scrap vinegar, got over 1 gallon. It smells right, now I just need to let it ferment for 4-6 months.

8. Budgeted spend on delivery pizza. More applesauce in the canner. Downloaded a bunch of free kindle books.

9. More applesauce canning.

10. Applesauce, again.

11-20 On vacation in Florida. Not even tracking

21. Emergency dr. visit for DD2, grabbed Five Guys for lunch.

22. Budgeted spend on a few essentials, milk, half and half, juice concentrate.

23. NO spending today. Really wanted to order out for dinner, but managed to scrape tacos together. Used up some tomatoes that were on their last legs, and taco shells and tortillas we brought home from vacation. Canned another 14qts of applesauce. I still have about 4 bushels of apples left to can, thinking of canning some into apple pie filling.

October 20 -- Planned on a no spend day, but plans changed in the evening when BIL asked us to go out for a movie and dinner

October 21 --

October 22 --

October 23 --

October 24 -- Mailed a care package to my girls. Bought some fruits at Costco which were covered by a return.

October 25 -- Ate out - we really, really shouldn't have...

October 26 -- Got a groupon for 2 car washes and had our cars cleaned inside and out. They desperately needed it. My DH's car has never been cleaned and mine hasn't been in about 7 months - it looked more brown than the burgundy it should've been.

October 27 - After being stuck in traffic for more than an hour for a trip that was supposed to take 20 minutes and looking even worse for the return trip, we have decided to wait a few hours before attempting the drive back. Which meant eating out yet again this weekend.

October 28 --

October 29 --

October 30 -- Bought bread, grapes and a sheet of checks. We were out of bread and fresh fruits for two days.

1. Unbudgeted but necessary, DH stopped at WM for half and half, pasta, and canning jars. Canned 13 quarts of applesauce and used the peels and cores to start 5, 1/2 gallon jars of apple scrap vinegar.

2.

3.

4.

5. DD1 had a bake sale today, made oatmeal raisin cookies b/c I had all the ingredients on hand. Stopped at a local orchard that sells apple seconds by the bushel. Got 7 bushels of apples for $70, that's $10 a bushel or less than 25c/ lb!!! Also picked up pumpkins for the kids to paint for fall and for roasting and pureeing. Broke down 4 pumpkins and got 18 cups of puree for future baking.

7. No spend, canned another batch of applesauce. Strained the apple scraps from the apple scrap vinegar, got over 1 gallon. It smells right, now I just need to let it ferment for 4-6 months.

8. Budgeted spend on delivery pizza. More applesauce in the canner. Downloaded a bunch of free kindle books.

9. More applesauce canning.

10. Applesauce, again.

11-20 On vacation in Florida. Not even tracking

21. Emergency dr. visit for DD2, grabbed Five Guys for lunch.

22. Budgeted spend on a few essentials, milk, half and half, juice concentrate.

23. NO spending today. Really wanted to order out for dinner, but managed to scrape tacos together. Used up some tomatoes that were on their last legs, and taco shells and tortillas we brought home from vacation. Canned another 14qts of applesauce. I still have about 4 bushels of apples left to can, thinking of canning some into apple pie filling.

Look away, I spent money yesterday. Took a trip to the pumpkin patch with the kids. It was fantastic, but I hadn't thought through what it would cost to get 4 pumpkins and take a hay ride and get cider donuts and all of it. Money spent for a fun day.

No spend/budgeted spending

Un-budgeted spending

October 1 --

October 2 --

October 3 -- 12.22 snacks for soccer team

October 4 -- 169.00 new windshield for van, 21.00 taxi, 5.00 snacks

October 5 -- 61.00 few groceries, laundry detergent, tp, will need a few more things for this upcoming week

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Ended a very busy, very fun Halloween night by picking up a couple of roasted chickens at the market for dinner. We got a bag of salad and some beer and it made a nice meal. And it was much cheaper than going out which is what we were very tempted to do.

Ending the month on a good note. It has been a terrific month overall, but I am ready to move on!

No spend/budgeted spending

Un-budgeted spending

October 1 --

October 2 --

October 3 -- 12.22 snacks for soccer team

October 4 -- 169.00 new windshield for van, 21.00 taxi, 5.00 snacks

October 5 -- 61.00 few groceries, laundry detergent, tp, will need a few more things for this upcoming week

October 20 -- Planned on a no spend day, but plans changed in the evening when BIL asked us to go out for a movie and dinner

October 21 --

October 22 --

October 23 --

October 24 -- Mailed a care package to my girls. Bought some fruits at Costco which were covered by a return.

October 25 -- Ate out - we really, really shouldn't have...

October 26 -- Got a groupon for 2 car washes and had our cars cleaned inside and out. They desperately needed it. My DH's car has never been cleaned and mine hasn't been in about 7 months - it looked more brown than the burgundy it should've been.

October 27 - After being stuck in traffic for more than an hour for a trip that was supposed to take 20 minutes and looking even worse for the return trip, we have decided to wait a few hours before attempting the drive back. Which meant eating out yet again this weekend.

October 28 --

October 29 --

October 30 -- Bought bread, grapes and a sheet of checks. We were out of bread and fresh fruits for two days.

October 31 -- We almost went out to eat tonight, but I have decided I'd rather have another No Spend day this month, instead.